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Retroelements Network – activity and dynamics in genome evolution


  Or Levy[1]  ,  Binyamin Knisbacher[2]  ,  Erez Levanon[2]  ,  Shlomo Havlin[1]  
 [1] Deptartment of Physics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel[1]
[2] The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel[2]

Retroelements (REs) are transposable genetic elements that propagate via a 'copy and paste' mechanism in a manner similar to retroviruses. 

Through bursts of activity during evolution, they eminently proliferated and now comprise ~45% of the human genome.
Only a small fraction of the REs are currently active. These elements yet unidentified, enhance genomic diversity, and drive disease and evolution.

In our research we aim to identify retroelement activity and dynamics using complex networks.

We identified new communities in different hominids and we found communities that are specific to an organism.

We can also determine the order in which the communities were spawned according to the connections between the communities.